Easy Prep Ahead Monkey Bread

I'm a poet and didn't know it.  Huh huh.

We now return to your regularly scheduled blog post.

In the weeks leading up to Christmas, I saw a blue million posts on Pinterest about Christmas morning monkey bread.

I read through them all and decided that I would do it my way.

See, the recipes I saw all used canned biscuits or frozen biscuits or some other plain-ish bread dough.

And while that sounds great, delicious even, I thought I could quite possibly kick the sugar factor (and deliciousness) up a few notches.

So I made it on Christmas.  And I made it again the next week.  And I've made it about a dozen times since then.  While it is doing absolutely nothing for the size of my a$$, it is probable one of the best things I have ever eaten.

It's totally worth all the miles I've run in order to try to burn it off.

Totally.

[Printable Recipe]

WHAT YOU NEED:

 2 tubes refrigerated cinnamon rolls with icing, like Pillsbury
1 cup of nuts, chopped (I've used both walnuts and pecans and they were both delicious.  Almonds would be good too.)
1 stick of butter
1 cup of brown sugar
a splash of water (maybe 1/8 cup or so)
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
cooking spray


WHAT YOU DO:
Spray the heck out of your bundt panwith cooking spray.  Then spray it again.

Evenly distribute the nuts in the bottom of the pan.

Meanwhile, in a small saucepan on the stove, melt the butter, then add in the brown sugar, cinnamon and water and bring it to a boil.  Allow it to boil for 3-4 minutes over medium heat, stirring constantly.

After you remove your sugar/butter mixture from the heat, open your two tubes of cinnamon rolls and set the icing aside for later.  Cut each roll in quarters, then pull apart the pieces and spread them evenly around the pan.

Next, pour your butter/sugar mixture evenly over the top.

This is the really cool "prep ahead" part. At this point, you can either proceed with the recipe and bake it right away, or you can cover your pan with plastic wrap and refrigerate it overnight (or up to 2 days - maybe longer, but that's as far as my knowledge has taken me).

Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 35-40 minutes, then allow to cool for 10 minutes. After cooling, invert your pan over your serving plate, then top with the icing reserved from your cinnamon rolls.

Did I mention that this stuff is ridiculously good? And addictive? And NOT on my diet plan? And totally worth it?